The Future is in the Past
by Radioactive-man
Summary: RanmaxInuyasha. However neither of them is going to be playing the main role on this one, although they still are going to get their share of the fic. Instead it's up to Ryoga to save the day this time... Rated T for later chapters. STORY ON HOLD.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer**: Well, what's there to tell? I don't own anything. Well actually I do own some stuff like my PC or my furniture and probably most of the stuff that is in my room (at least I think so anyway) but unfortunately the rights for the characters used in this FAN fiction belong solemnly to Rumiko Takahashi-sama and the guys she is working for or vice-versa. Even if I wish they belonged to me every passing day of my miserable life.sob 

**The Future is in the Past**

_Prologue_

The night spread it's wings above Japan once again, like it did for so many centuries and millennia already. Tokyo, the largest town of the formerly named country, was not able to escape the night's routine as the already low Sun sank below the horizon completely, allowing the stars and the Moon to have their short time, watching the world of mortals below them, before the Sun would reclaim it's place on the sky once again.

A lonely figure was walking down the streets, illuminated with old lamps, which gave a weak orange light off them, barely allowing the ones, who walked beneath them, to actually walk upright without the fear of tripping on something. The passer-bys only looked pitifully at the ragged appearance of the young person in question, before hurrying to attend what little business they had to do, before going home. The figure walked a bit longer, until the streets became deserted of all human life. The person lifted its face to the lamps and the stars above them, only to reveal a young man with a black and yellow bandana strapped around his head, keeping the unruly black bangs of his hair from falling into his dark hazel eyes.

Ryoga Hibiki was lost. Again. Luckily for him it wasn't raining, or else the most miserable day of his life would have been complete. The lost boy sighed deeply before hanging his head once again, the images of the day flashing through his head, as they usually did. This was his personal way of dealing with problems. He didn't think about them until he got lost and had nothing better to do (since watching, where he was going, usually only added to his problems, rather than helped him solve them).

So let's think about what happened today. I lost to Ranma.> Ryoga started counting on his fingers. Then I was pounded by Ukyo and Shampoo for trying to beat the jerk up.> The lost boy pondered, if perhaps this point counted for two, since he was pounded by two different people, but thought better of it. He would run out of his fingers this way.  
Then Ranma was attacked by Herb, although I still don't get what he wanted in Nerima, and got injured a little, while protecting Akane.> He put down another finger. Usually this would have been a plus point, but the way Akane was concerned about the aqua transsexual made it all worse. Ryoga silently wished that she would sometimes show such concern for him.  
Uh, drifting off there. Back to counting. Oh yeah. Riiiiight. Kuno made fun of me, because I lost to Ranma. And then he ran off, claiming that he would defeat the "vile sorcerer".> The fact that Kuno came flying out into the low earth orbit about twenty seconds later didn't make the things better. More the contrary, since Ryoga wasn't able to pound the kendoist himself.  
Aaah. Nearly forgot about Mousse attacking me, because he thought, I was Ranma. Well, at least he excused himself. After hitting me over the head with a club multiple times, that is. Not that it hurt much, but it was annoying.> There went another finger. That made five. What else happened to him today?

And thus Ryoga went on. The old streetlamps slowly changed to newer ones, which slightly resembled the ones in Nerima, but not quite. The surroundings changed from narrow streets to wider ones, with many shops and even one or two more exquisite establishments like restaurants and boutiques. The lost boy noticed none of that. The wide streets disappeared as silently as they appeared. Ryoga halted in his tracks.

….Then this lady tried to cook me and….Hey. Where on earth am I now?> Looking up from his fists, (because by now he had all of his fingers down. For the second time even.) he allowed his tired eyes to wander around him, absorbing some information and giving it to the equally tired brain. He was in front of a flight of stairs, which obviously led somewhere high. He had seen such stairs before. They usually led to some sort of shrines or temples, which was good, since the priests or priestesses usually were willing to give the eternal wanderer a place for the night, even if he had to chop some wood, or do some equally ridiculous task as a payment. This in mind Ryoga stopped making himself depressed and after checking for any signs of himself glowing (Some priests held him for a demon, his fangs adding to the image, and kept trying to stick anti-demon wards to his head. As they didn't work they claimed, it was because of his bandana, his backpack, his umbrella even, or something else, that came them to mind.) and started his way up the stairs.

Upon reaching the top he noticed a house and a small hut standing on a large field that was plastered with stones. However the lights inside the house were already out and the only thing allowing the lost boy to even see his surroundings was the moon. Not wanting to disturb the people Ryoga turned around to leave and find himself a place to put his excellent camping skills to good use when a low rumbling caught his attention. Looking up Ryoga realised that at the far end of the horizon some clouds were making their way in his general direction. Cursing under his breath the bandanned youth pondered his course of action. He definitely didn't want to get wet or to have to camp out in the rain for that matter, since it always took hours for his tent to dry completely, so it wouldn't stink afterwards. He also didn't want to disturb the people in the house at such a late hour. What to do? The small hut caught his attention.

Surely they wouldn't mind me staying there for the night. Heck, they don't even need to know, I was ever there.> Thought the lost boy, already making his way to the hut, keeping direct eye contact with his target, in order not to get lost on his way there. The door was luckily not closed and slid easily open. As Ryoga walked in he found it increasingly more difficult to see anything. Still walking he pulled off his backpack and started to dig around in it in the search for a flashlight or something else that would help him see his surroundings. As he walked on, he suddenly felt no floor under his feet anymore. He tripped, stumbled and realised a little too late that there must have been some stairs. He felt his backpack wanting to take another flying route and made a grab for it, resulting in him completely loosing his balance and flying forwards into the darkness. The next thing Ryoga realised, was the fact, that he fell. He wasn't flying in any particular direction, but down. He fell a bit too long for his tastes, because in his opinion the hut couldn't have possibly been a secret tunnel or something of the sort. Then there was the sensation of his head bumping on something hard once in a while. Ryoga decided that he must be in a very narrow tunnel, if he indeed was in a tunnel at all. His hand still held one of his backpack's leashes as something really strange started happening. A purple and pink light appeared all around Ryoga. For a second he was able to see the ceiling of the hut, before his vision was obscured by his backpack again. Then as the backpack swayed away once more Ryoga saw nothing but a clear blue night sky. Then he landed. Painfully. To add insult to injury the accursed backpack preferred a soft landing and decided that the lost boy's face was soft enough, rending him unconscious quite quickly.

_To Be Continued..._

**Author's notes:** Hurray! It only took me a few hours to write this one. It's also my first fic to be written by myself, without anyone's help. This is also the first of my fics, I consider to be good enough to be posted. In case you guys didn't notice, or were too lazy to read the decription of the fic, this is an Ranma and Inuyasha crossover with our favourite lost boy playing the main part. For those of you who liked this little prologue, I have good news. The first chapter is almost finished and it is way longer then what you see before you. So guys, this being the first of my fanfics to be posted, you can guess thatI want some reviews. SOON.

PS : Wait with the flames about the well not being able transport anyone else but Inuyasha and Kagome. I'll exolain it in later chapters. If it stilldoesn'tfit you, then you can flame me all you want.

PPS : While I wish some reviews, I also want them to be constructive and not something like "I hate it. It sucks". If you don't like it, then please explain why exactly.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

_The Shortest Straw_

Light. Where the hell did it come from? Or more importantly, how the hell was he supposed to sleep in such a bright light?

Ryoga groaned and pulled himself up, shoving his backpack off his face and rubbing his sore nose, which fell victim to the selfish backpack. Creaking one eye open, he dared to look around. He found himself inside of something with four walls of stone and no roof. The lost boy also noted, that there was barely enough space for him to fit in. Standing up completely he dusted himself off and looked up. The sight he was greeted with was the one of the glaring midday sun. He also was able to notice, after putting his palm above his eyes like a visor, that the walls of stone ended about three meters above him, giving in to wood. Shrugging Ryoga shouldered his backpack and made sure his umbrella wouldn't fall off. Using his monstrous strength, which was not only held in his arms but in his legs also, he propelled himself up enough for him to grab the wood, he had seen earlier and pulled himself up and out of the tunnel.

Upon a closer inspection, he noted, that the "tunnel" was nothing more than an obviously dried out well. Ryoga shrugged once again before taking a look around. He was fairly used to not knowing, where he was, but this was a first. Unless someone had somehow managed to transport him out of the small hut without the lost boy noticing anything, Ryoga couldn't imagine how the hell he ended up in the middle of a forest. The youth scratched the back of his head. He looked back at the mysterious well. Something smelt fishy about it. He clearly remembered falling down in some sort of tunnel. The well seemed to fit into that description quite well. And what was all of that business with the strange lights all around him when he fell? Ah, so many questions and no answers at all. Seemed like the typical situation for Ryoga. Letting out a depressed sigh the lost boy turned away from the well and started walking down what seemed to be a small, not often used path, which led through the forest.

As Ryoga walked on he found himself wandering about the forest he found himself in. It wasn't like he had never been to a forest before. Quite the contrary in fact. But this forest was so…well…fresh…undisturbed…Natural somehow. It was like it had never seen a thing like a chainsaw or any humans, who came there to have a picnic and left their trash lying. The trees seemed to have souls of their own, not like the forests he had been to, where the trees were just standing pieces of wood, grimly looking down at the lone traveller. Yes, he definitely liked this forest.

To his surprise, just as he came to that conclusion, Ryoga saw the end of the forest, where the trees abruptly gave in to fields. Walking out of the shade the lost boy found himself gazing at what could have been the most beautiful sight of his life. The fields stretched out in all directions. To Ryoga's left the green grass ran all the way up to the cliff of a mountain, it's snowy top looking down at the lands below. To his right, about a mile away, Ryoga could see a small village surrounded by rice fields, smoke rising out of the tiny rooftops, chimneys obviously. It was almost like the civilisation hadn't touched this little piece of land at all. A small smile found it's way to Ryoga's lips.

Straightening out his backpack he started making his way to the village. As he came closer he was able to see some of the traditionally built houses, not like the ones he had seen in Tokyo. As he came even closer he was forced to frown. Although the former mentioned smoke was rising from the huts and houses, the lost boy couldn't see any people. Not a single soul was at the rice fields. From what streets he was able to see none held any signs of human life as well. Something seemed off.

Finally Ryoga reached the outskirts of the village. The streets were deserted, and the doors of every single house he passed were closed, the windows had pieces of cloth hung over them from the inside as if the inhabitants wanted to prevent someone from noticing them at all costs.

As Ryoga slowly neared the middle of the town he felt stranger by the second. A couple of times he could have sworn, that he heard a dog barking from somewhere further to the north of the town. But it could have been just his imagination.

Suddenly the bandannaed youth heard the creaking sound of a door opening. He wheeled around, only to see a small boy, no older than eleven years old making some motions to him, as if beckoning him to come closer. Shrugging Ryoga complied and came to a halt just two steps from the boy, who still was standing in the doorway. He was dressed in some sort of a blue kimono, although Ryoga had only seen such sort of grab in old samurai movies. (When h actually managed to watch TV) The boy's long brown hair was tied back in a loose ponytail, which swung from one side to the other due to the fact that the boy was turning his head from one side to the other rapidly at the moment, as if looking for something. Finally, not seeing anything, the boy turned his attention back to the task at hand, namely Ryoga.

"Come on in, quick!" The boy got out of the teenagers way, still beckoning him to follow. Ryoga raised an eyebrow but obliged nevertheless. As soon as Ryoga's feet were both safely inside the house the boy quickly slid the door closed, leaned against it and let out a relieved sigh.

"What on earth were you doing out there at such a time! And who are you anyway?" The boy seemed quite distressed, so Ryoga decided to answer the question as good as he was able to.

"Uh, walking? And my name is Hibiki Ryoga."

"Walking?"

"Walking." Ryoga confirmed.

"Oh. You're probably not from the area, are you?" The boy asked taking a look at his guest.

"Err, no, I guess not." The lost boy looked around. He was in a small hut with only one room, which obviously served as the kitchen, living room, and sleep room at the same time. In the middle of the floor was a hole with some ashes and not yet totally burned wood.

"Fine, then listen up. If you want to stay alive, just keep quiet and stay inside. Otherwise the demon that haunts our town might think that you're trying to get rid of him."

"A demon?" Ryoga asked. Of course he was aware of their existence, but never before had he witnessed that they openly showed themselves. At least not the dangerous ones.

"Yes. It's an oni that came to the area about three moons ago. He also terrorizes some other neighbouring villages." The boy explained sheepishly looking down at the floor. "The men of the village tried to kill him, but were murdered themselves."

"They were killed? And why didn't the demon just destroy the rest of the village? It's not like demons have much left for humans as far as I'm aware of." By the second the lost boy found himself more and more lost and this time he wasn't even lost in space like usually, but more like in his mind.

There was a long uncomfortable pause before the boy spoke up again, indicating that he was in no way proud of what he was about to say.  
"Now we have to sacrifice a girl, no older then twelve years old every month." By now his head was so low, that Ryoga wasn't able to look the boy in the eye.

"And what about the government? Didn't you try to call them or something? They can't let such things happen right in front of their noses!" Ryoga wasn't sure that the government would have believed in the story with the demon, but the villagers could have lied and said something about a…a pack of wolves or a group of bandits for example.

"We tried to send someone over to the castle, that is about two and a half days walk from here but no one returned and the oni told us, that he intercepted our messengers." The boy slowly slid down the door and put his knees to his chest, still not looking up.

"Why didn't you use a phone? Don't you have one in here? Doesn't matter, I've bought a cell phone about a week ago…now where is it again…" Ryoga started digging through his pack. Finally in one of the outer pockets he found his prey. Luckily the tiny thing hasn't been damaged during the fall in the well and Ryoga himself was able to load it's battery while he was at Tendo's the day before. Not noticing the confused expression on the boy's face the teen flipped the cell phone open and looked at it. A simple phrase was visible on the display. Out of reach Ryoga cursed. He couldn't have possibly wandered so far away from Tokyo that fast. Then there was the fact that in Japan there was nearly no square inch that wasn't in the range of one of the satellites, Japan being a pretty small country in comparison to America or China. He was brought out of his musings by the voice of the boy.

"What's a fone..err,phone? Or a cell phone for that matter?" Ryoga looked down at his host, who was still down on the floor. The lost boy could also have sworn that there were streaks from tears on his face. Nah, couldn't be. Why would the boy be crying? Even if his father died trying to kill this demon of theirs, it had been three months already and the boy was eleven after all. Or was he?

"Say boy, what's your name? And how come you're alone home? Where's your mother?"

The boy blushed deep red. Ryoga could have sworn that he had seen those lovely veins, he had so often seen on Akane's head, when she was mad at Ranma, pop up on the boy's head as well.

"Whoever told you, I was a boy?" The 'boy' inqured, clearly restraining 'himself' from screaming.  
Ryoga looked at 'him'. He took in the indeed feminine features as well as the skin, that looked a little bit too soft and too white to be that one of a boy. There was a clear resemblance between the current situation and the one, when the lost boy first met Ukyo.

"AHHHHHHH!" Ryoga screamed and jumped a few feet away from the girl."B-but why do you dress up like a boy!" He inquired.

"That's because of the demon, you moron! If you haven't heard me, he is after girls, who are younger then twelve and I am just eleven and a half." The girl explained, making guestures for him to shut up at the same time."Oh, for goddes sake, will you be quiet!The Demon should show up any time now and if he hears us, we're done for!"

"Oh, ok." Ryoga said, feeling a little more secure, since the girl didn't show any signs of her wanting to inflict some major injuries to him. Not that she would have been able to, but Ryoga had learned during his time in Nerima, that if there was one thing to remember, it was the simple rule 'do not, under any circumstances, piss off a woman of an age, when she considers herself a woman'.

"Now, what was that buisiness with the phone? And my name is Ayeka." The girl huffed.

"Well, um...You see...a phone is something you use to talk to people over a large distance. I can't belive you haven't heard of it before, in fact...Hey, wait a moment. Now what about my question? Where's your mother?" The lost boy made his way to the obscurred window and pulled the rag it was covered with aside and peered at the deserted street. If there indeed was a demon, he wanted to take a look at it. For him it was by now clear, that it was up to him to beat the crap out of it, so he wanted to study his opponent before he actually had to face him.

"My mother...She volunteered to try and bring the message of our misery to the castle I told you about earlier. In exchange for my life, that is..." The girl said, looking down at the floor again.

"How's that?" Ryoga didn't understand." I thought it was the demon, who is dangerous. Is it some sort of game he is playing, or what? Giving his pray a chance to call help and then killing it off before it reached it's goal?" The teen kept gazing out of the window.

"Don't talk about my mother like that..." The shaky voice of Ayeka brought him back down to earth, from his dreams, where he was standing atop of a huge monster with many claws and teeth all about it in a victorious pose and look back at the girl, whose face was tearstrained again, with a fresh tear sliding down her cheek every now and then."My mother...she talked to other villagers. They agreed that if she tried this risky mission...that then the others wouldn't try and sacrifice me. You see, they keep pulling straws and the one with the shortest straw has to sacrifice her child, or herself, if it's her, who is young enough. Thanks to my mother I don't take part in this...gamble..." By now Ayeka wasn't trying to hold back the tears, that were freely sliding down her cheecks to her kin and falling down to the floor.

A long pause stretched in the hut once again, broken only by the sobs of the little girl. Ryoga felt his heart tear up, as he looked at her. Why hadn't he been listening to her careful enough? Was he that selfish, to only think about himself being praised as a hero?

Finally making a descision, the lost boy crouched down next to the girl and put his hand around her in a protective manner. He wasn't that good at comforting people, he knew that, but he would do his best.

"Ayeka...Listen, I'm sorry. For talking like that I mean." Ryoga let out a hollow laugh.

"What's so funny?" The girl angrilly looked up from the floor, ready to defend her mother's honor but relaxed, seeing the look on her guest's face.

"It's just...You know? I have a friend...sort of...Well, the thing is, that he keeps putting his foot in his mouth all the time, you know? And I always thought, that I was better than him, when it came to tact." He laughed once again. "Apparently, I was wrong."

Ryoga stood up, Ayeka following him with her gaze.  
"Say, where is the girl, that has to be sacrificed this month?" He asked casually.

"She's at the shrine, that's in the middle of the town, why do you ask?" The girl also got up, still gazing confused at the lost boy, who was pulling his backpack on and unfastening the red bamboo umbrella, that rested on top of it until now.

"Don't worry, it's just...Let's say, I've got something against demons, especially the ones, who want sacrifices." Ryoga said with a small smile on his face, as he stretched out his hand and slod open the door.

"What? Hey! Stop! ARE YOU TIRED OF LIFE, OR WHAT!" Ayeka jumped up and hung herself onto Ryoga's arm. If he weren't paying attention, he might have as well not notice her."Stop! I don't want to see any more people die, than I already have!" She cried, again at the verge of tears. Ryoga looked her in the eye and gently released his arm from her grip.

"If I'm successfull, and I'm darn sure, that I'm going to be, you won't have to." Leaving her standing there, with a comepletely lost expression on her face, Ryoga started walking.

Somehow everything seemed so clear now. He knew, where he had to go and turning back, he was sure to find his way back as well. Halting in his tracks he crouched and picked up something from the dirty ground, looked at it and started walking again. He didn't know why, or how, but he found his way to the former mentioned shrine without any problems or wrong turns, as if his sense of direction was suddenly working again, like it did, when he was just a little kid.

He halted before a wooden trunk, that a small girl, of about six years old was tied up to. She was unconscious by the looks of it, having cried for a long while. Ryoga ripped the ropes appart and picked up the girl, carefully carrying her to the little shrine, that was nothing more but a piece of wood, that shielded some small stony statues from the weather and had a couple of japanian bells hanging from it's top on tiny cords. Putting the girl down and leaning her with her back against the shrine, Ryoga turned around and waited.

He didn't have to wait for long, as he felt a strange feeling, as if the air had suddenly become thicker then usuall and it became a little harder to breath. The wind picked up, as if knowing that something was nearing itself. Soon a large thing with four feet, comepletely covered in thick white fur came into view from the side of the street Ryoga was facing. It's arms, if they could have been called this way were large, muscled and had long sharp looking talons instead of fingers. The face of the creature was wrinkled, like that of an old man, but the burning red eyes, that gleamed from under the white locks of hair didn't look old at all. The only thing thy held within themselves was the unsatisfied lust for blood.

Something tore at Ryoga's heart and he abscentmindedly wondered, if perhaps this was what true fear felt like. As the oni came closer Ryoga also realised that it was at least as big as Pantyhose Taro in his transformed form. The thing that tore at Ryoga's heart grew stronger with every step the monster took, but the heart itself kept beating calmly and regulary, as it always did.  
Then Ryoga Hibiki realised that what he was feeling, was not fear.  
No, it was the cold hatered towards the thing that had now stopped mere feet away and was now grinning, exposing it's white, long and curved teeth. He hadn't felt such hate in his whole life. Not towards Ranma, not towards anyone else. He didn't know why he felt this way, the demon didn't do anything to him personally, after all.

"So, they somehow managed to call help, didn't they?" The demon boomed in a deep voice, which echoed through the empty streets. "Too bad they didn't manage to call someone,who could actually hurt me, no...instead they call a mere mortal to defeat me. How pathetic."The monster let out a full blown laugh."So, boy, what's it going to be? Are we going to have some fun together, or what?" The demon leaned his head back and laughed again.

Ryoga looked over his shoulder at the little girl, leaning on the shrine, unconscious. Then the tear strained face of Ayeka found it's way into his mind. Now he knew exactly, why he felt such hate towards the beeing before him. His fist clenched around the object, that he had picked up from the ground earlier. The lost boy forced his grip to relax, and without a word tossed the thing to the oni.

The demon lazily swiped the thing from the air and looked at it.  
It was a very short straw.

"Your turn." Was all Ryoga said, before leaping at his enemy.

**Author's notes : **Seeing, as I won't be able to post anything during the new year period, I decided to post the first chapter now, lol, the same day I actually submitted the story... well anyway. Here you go. R&R and above all, have fun.


	3. Chapter 2

Author's notes: First and foremost I have to thank my reviewers and answer some of their questions.  
Yes indeed, this fic takes place after the failled wedding in the Anime, which means that there's no Akari. Second: No, Ryoga is not the reincarnation of Inuyasha or any other demon or charackter from Rumiko Takahashi-sama's series for that matter. He's just our good old Ryoga, not more and not less. As for Inuyasha accusing Ryoga for being a demon, you'll just have to see.  
Then there was a review for which I am most grateful, since it pointed out the flaws of this fic. But not to worry, I am going to fix everything, that has to be fixed, if not in this chapter, then in later ones.  
Now enough of my annoying notes and on with the story. 

**Chapter 2**

_The Curses that we have_

_Ryoga leapt at his enemy. Landing a solid roundhouse kick on it's head he sent the practice dummy fly a couple of feet through the backyard of his house. The little boy calmed his breathing as well as he could and wiped his brow, as he suddenly heared clapping from the door, which led to the backyard he was currently in.  
"Well done, junior! I tell you, one of these days you are going to be the best martial artist around"  
A tall man with short raven black hair and warm hazel eyes stood in the doorway, smiling._

_"Daddy!" The four year old ran to his father and hugged him. "Am I going to be as good as you?" He asked tilting his head, so he could look at his father's face._

_"As good as me? Hmm, I don't know, junior... I am pretty good, you know?" Takeshi Hibiki ruffled son's hair. "Of course you are going to be. Now off to the bathroom, or Mommy is going to be mad, because you are all dirty again. There's going to be dinner in half an hour." The adult swept his child off the ground and holding him out in his outsretched hands, while making noises of a plain with his mouth, started running to the bathroom. Ryoga flailed with his hands laughing happily._

_A half an hour later the Hibiki males sat together at the dining table, waiting for the food to be brought in._

_"Takeshi, help me out with those dishes, please!" Came a female voice out of the kitchen. Despite it's commanding tone it still had so much warmth in it, that it seemed as if it was able to keep the small family alive through the coldest of winters without a fire to help and warm them. The head of the Hibiki family quickly stood up and rushed into the kitchen, only to emerge a minute later with his hands full of delicious smelling food and a beautiful woman with amazingly large green eyes, dark brown hair and a smile on her face by his side._

_"Naomi, don't you think, that this is a little too much for the three of us?" Ryoga's father asked, placing the dishes on te table and crouching himself on his knees before it._

_"Darling. I have two great warriors to feed. It's always better to have a little too much then having those warriors of mine sneaking to the fridge every now and then later." Naomi Hibiki told jokingly, seating herself between her husband and her son, giving Ryoga's already stuffed cheecks a slight peck.  
"Now, good appetite to everyone."_

_Ryoga swallowed enough to wish good appetite back and continued on his way of eating everything on his plate._

_The dinner went as it usually did, with everyone satisfied. Just as Takeshi put down his chopsticks the phone in the hallway of the house rang._

_"I'll go get it." Told Mr. Hibiki, got up and ran to the still ringing phone."Yes? Takeshi Hibiki at the phone...Yes...What!...I'm on my way. Wait for me, before you take any action...Good." He hung up the phone and rushed into the dining room. His little son was helping his mother to bring the empty plates back into the kitchen as good as he could, being too short to reach the sink, where the dishes were ought to be washed._

_"Just give them to me, honey." Naomi was telling._

_"Junior, Naomi, I have to go!" Takeshi told, hurriedly putting on his pistol holster, his shoes and his coat._

_"But why? I thought you had a free day today." Naomi wiped her hands with a towel and put them on her hips, looking sternly at her husband._

_"Remember, this case I told you of? The one with those bas...I mean with those guys," He corrected himself, looking down at the innocent and not understanding face of his son. "The ones who keep kidnapping children, only to...do you know what." Takeshi said._

_The look on his wife's face softened and she smiled.  
"Ok, but be careful out there." She rushed up to him and gave him a kiss on his cheek along with a tight embrace._

_"I will, don't worry." Mr.Hibiki told, kissing Naomi back and hugging her lightly, before going to his son and ruffling his already unruly hair once again. "Take care, junior." With that he rushed to the door turning around once more. "Be back as soon as I can!" He cried and finally ran out of the house. Ryoga heard the engine of their car roar to life and the sound of it slowly, but getting faster by the second drive away._

_"Mommy, why did daddy have to go?" The boy asked, looking up at his mother._

_She looked down at him and smiled warmly, although Ryoga could see a little bit of sadness in her eyes.  
"Because your daddy is a hero, honey." She told him._

_"Why can't someone else be a hero instead?" Ryoga asked, still not quite understanding._

_"You know, that your daddy is the best, don't you? And that's exactly why he is the hero. Because, if someone else had been in his place, they couldn't do the job as well as daddy does, do you understand?" She crouched down, so as to be at eye level with her son and stroked his cheeck._

_Ryoga still didn't get everything of it, but what his mother had said sounded right, besides he still had to obey the universal law, that all children under the age of ten or so have to obey to: 'your parents are always right'._

_"Yeah, mommy." He said nodding his head and smiling._

_Takeshi Hibiki, the inspector of the local police enforcement stood along with his fellow collegues in front of his car, various papers lying on it's hood, a large blueprint at the top of others._

_"This is the graveyard the cult is currently at. As far as we know, we have about fifteen minutes, before they begin with their ritual." He pointed at the middle of the blueprint. "Here is an altar they probably have chosen for the sacrifice, which means, that the victim is there. The graveyard has three entrances, which we heve blocked by now. Have the others closed the ring around the cementry?"_

_One of the uniformed policemen brought a walkie-talkie to his mouth and exchanged some short phrases with the person on the other end.  
"Yes, sir." He confirmed._

_"Good. Now we are going to enter from here, while two other teams, ten men each are going to enter the graveyard from the two other entrances. It is vital that we keep ourselves hidden, until we are close enough to save the hostage." Takeshi pointed at the southern entrance, then at the eastern and western ones._

_"Further more, while we don't know if they have any weapons, I still want the head of the cult alive. They might have captured more children, then we are aware of and he has to know where they are, if indeed they have." He said looking around and at the uniformed policemen, who was giving his orders to the other teams over the walkie-talkie. As everyone nodded, Hibiki looked at his wristwatch._

_"We have thirteen minutes left. Get into your respective positions." He ordered and ran to the entrance, which was just around the corner._

_Looking back at his colleagues he drew his pistol and stealthily entered the graveyard, others following his example. Five minutes later they sighted the cult. As Takeshi suspected they gathered around a shrine of stone, that obviously fitted their description of an altar, a small girl tied down to it, her mouth gagged and eyes covered with a piece of cloth._

_The cult members were wearing baggy black kimonos with red stripes at the ends of the sleeves and pants. They had white masks drawn over their faces, and were standing in a circle around the shrine. As far as Takeshi could see there were about ten men, eleven with the leader, who wore a mask that differed from the others and was standing in the middle of the circle just a few steps from the altar. He was also the only one with a weapon, a jagged knife, slightly curved at the handle._

_Right now the leader had his hands along with the dagger raised high and was talking in a language inspector Hibiki didn't understand.  
Having been after the cult for a long time, Takeshi had learned that the sacrifice took place when the sun started to sink behind the horizon. Looking at the already red sky he realizied, that they had only little time left.  
The uniformed officer put the walkie-talkie to his ear and after a second looked Takeshi in the eye and nodded._

_Takeshi raised his hand, balled into a fist. There was a short pause as he stayed in this position, hiding behind one of the tombstones. Then he punched the air in front of him, giving the sign for the attack. The ten men rushed out of their hiding place, already seeing the other two teams running from two other sides, spreading themselves, so as to surround the members of the cult. Their weapons drawn they started to close in onto the criminals, who at this moment looked comepletely caught off guard._

_The leader stepped out of the circle.  
"How dare you interrupt our holy ritual, foolish mortals! Our God shall deliver punishment upon all of you this instant!" He cried. Takeshi couldn't help but somehow compare his voice with the sizzling of a snake. He pointed his gun at the leader._

_"Put down the knife and surrender!" He commanded in a loud but calm voice._

_The mask of the leader turned in his direction. Now that Takeshi had a clear look at it, he recognised it as a mask of an oni. To his surprise the priest raised his weapon and with a scream rushed at the inspector._

_Unfortunately for the attacker, as Takeshi had told his son before, he was pretty good at martial arts. The uncontrolled attack was easy to slide under and one powerful uppercut later the cultist was lying sprawled out on the ground, his knife lying behind the backs of the policemen, out of reach._

_"Get them!" Inspector Hibiki cried, seeing as the rest of the cultists started trying attempts to escape. However none of them actually managed. They were outmatched and outpowered three to one._

_Calmly Hibiki walked up to the fallen priest and after turning him around started putting him in handcuffs. That done he walked up to the altar and carefully untied the hostage. Putting the gag of the girl's mouth he checked if she was alright. Apparently the cultists had rended her unconscious with morphium, since she had no injuries and was sound asleep. As soon as Takeshi let out a reliefed sigh, he heard the sirens of an ambulance pulling up somewhere outside the graveyard. Smiling a little he pulled the now groggy pseudo-priest to his feet and started walking along with the others away from the crime scene, seeing the medics running to the girl and taking her with them._

_Suddenly he heared some mumbling from his side. Turning his head slightly he saw his prisioner mumbling something under his breath. Takeshi's smile disappeared and he ripped the mask off the face of the man. His face fas skinny, with dark rings under the eyes, which gleamed with insane fire. The man stopped mumbling and looked at Takeshi from the corner of his eye. Then he burst out laughing._

_"What's so damn funny?" Takeshi barked at the man._

_"Hereby I curse you!Hahahaha...I curse you and those of your blood!Uahahahhaha..."_

_The insane priest kept laughing all the way from the graveyard. Later his colleagues told him, that he didn't stop in the car either._

_Mr.Hibiki drove his car into the parking lot, reserved for his house. Shutting down the engine he stepped out of the car and rubbed his eyes after closing the door. It had been an exetremely tiring evening. After they transported the cultists to the police station they started on asking out the leader. Unfortunately he kept silent, except for the occasional burst outs of insane laughter. He also kept looking at Takeshi all the time, an arrogant smirk never leaving his face._

_However in the minibus of the cultists, that was found near the graveyard, the police was able to find all the data they needed to be sure, that the cult hadn't captured more children, then the ones they had already managed to sacrifice and the girl that was rescued._

_In fact this and the sight of the family reunion, as the parents found their daughter were the only things that made the evening bearable. The words of the priest refused to get out of his head, no matter how hard he tried. The paperwork, that had to be done afterwards was immense, which made the inspector stay at the police station even longer. Luckily his colleagues volunteered to help him out, so that he was able to get home at about nine o'clock._

_Now there was a refreshing thought. Takeshi's family always was there for him. He wouldn't have traded it for all the treasures of the world. Smiling again he walked up to the door and unlocking the it, went inside._

_Ryoga was probably already asleep. Takeshi silently pulled off his shoes and his cloak. Putting the gun in the small cupboard in the hall and locking it he walked deeper inside the house.  
As soon as he entered the living room he was engulfed in a hug by his wife._

_"Why did it take so long? I was worried sick!" She demanded angrily, however still not letting go._

_"I'm sorry, 'Mi. It's just the paperwork. But we got'em. We got'em finally..." He smiled, stroking his beloved's hair._

_"Thank god...Finally we can let Ryoga out into the street, without fear. I've got to tell the neighbours as well...You still coud have at least called." Naomi lightly punched him in the ribs._

_He smiled down at her.  
"You know, I like to tease you a little every now and then."_

_"Jerk." She smiled also and they made their way up the stairs. Before going into their bedroom Takeshi silently opened the door to his son's room, crept up to the bed and stroked the sleeping infant's hair._

_"Good night, junior." With that he left the room as silently as he entered and closed the door shut behind him._

_In the following year Naomi Hibiki started noticing strange things about her husband. Every day he was comming back home later and later. When she asked him about it, he would say that the work lasted longer then expected. Her mind started wandering and all possible suspisions popped into her head, begining with Takeshi's possible love interests in someone else but her. However that was soon replaced with her thinking that he tried himself as an undercover agent of some sorts, since his apperance was becomming more and more ragged, not to mention his stress level._

_One day Takeshi Hibiki didn't come home. As Naomi called at his work, his colleagues told her that he didn't show up there either._

_One horrible week later, in which Takeshi was declared missing, he finally showed up at his house. He was more ragged then ever and looked extremely thin and worn out._

_This evening Mr.Hibiki asked Naomi to stay up and awake a little longer, so that their son would already be asleep and told her that he wanted to explain his misterious behaviour. Unfortunately for him Ryoga had overheard him saying this._

_In the following evening he went to bed earkier then usuall and as his father checked, if he was already asleep, Ryoga pretended to be, only to grab a glas, put it to the wall, that was between his parent's and his room and put his ear to it. A couple of minutes later he was able to hear his parents begin their talk._

_"What's wrong with you, Takeshi? You're not yourself anymore. And where did you leave our car? Is there something you are hiding from me?" Ryoga could hear his mother's voice._

_"Wait, 'Mi. That's what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't know if you are going to brlive me, but please, hear me out. Do you promise not to interfere, no mater how stupid it might sound, what I am saying?" His father asked. Ryoga was surprised at how tired his father's voice sounded._

_"Fine, but you better have a good explanation."_

_"Good. Now remember about a year ago, when I had this case about this cult, that was kidnapping and sacrificing children?" Ryoga wandered what sacrificing children meant. Shure his mother explained him once, that to sacrifice meant to offer something to someone, in order to achieve what one wanted. She had told that religious people often sacrificed some food or money to the gods they belived in. But how could one offer children to someone and what would happen to them? Shaking his head he turned his attention back to his parent's conversation._

_"...And then, when I was leading him to the car, he turned to me and said, that he cursed me. Me and those of my blood, if I remember his words correctly." His father was saying. His father was cursed? That made no sense._

_"What do you mean he cursed you?"_

_"I...I don't know myself." Mr.Hibiki let out a long sigh. "At first I didn't think much of it, but then a little bit later...It was a week after we got them, that it all started happening. Everything around me started to get...unfamiliar somehow. I don't know how to say it... I slowly stopped recognising places, that were around me, you know? At my way back home, the route, that I drove over a thousand times already, I somehow took a wrong turn and in a blink of an eye I ended up in downtown." Ryoga's father made a pause. There was shocked silence, that lasted for almost a minute._

_"And then?" Naomi's voice was just barely above a wisper, so quiet, that Ryoga had to stop breathing to hear her._

_"Then? I don't know... Somehow it got worse with every passing day. It took me longer and longer, before I found my way, in fact a couple of times, as neighbours had told me, I have been driving all around the block for several hours, before I recognised our house._

_"So that's why you have been comming home so late?"_

_"Yes. You know, that I am neither religious, nor do I belive in magic of some sorts. But this... A week ago, when I made my way to work, I somehow ended up in Okinawa of all places. The strangest part about this is that it only took me about an hour to get there, which is impossible, even if I drove in a straight line. I don't know how this is possible, but I think it all has something to do with that curse..." His father's voice broke and Ryoga heared weeping sounds. But he must have been mistaken, his father never cried. Not even when auntie Kyome went away. Ryoga remembered that strange ceremony, they held afterwards, with the large wooden box in the middle of the whole Family..._

_"...What is happening to me?" Mr.Hibiki's voce was so small, that Ryoga barely caught it. He heard footsteps and the rustling of sheets, as his mother seated herself at the bed, with her husband._

_Then there was only silence._

_Ryoga slowly put the glas away and crawled back into his bed, his small mind trying to comprehend all of the things he had heard. Somehow he wasn't able to sleep that night._

_As years passed, Takeshi Hibiki was more and more rarely home. Although he usually asked his colleagues to drive him, there were still plenty of opportunities for him to 'get lost', as he started to call it._

_One day, when Mr.Hibiki was still lost somewhere there was a knock on the door. The eight years old Ryoga went to open it, only to be faced with a large, pretty full man, with a sad expression on his broad and friendly face._

_"Hello, Obashi-san." Ryoga greeted._

_"Hello, kid. Say, is your Mum home?"_

_"Yeah, she's in the kitchen, come on in." With that Ryoga turned and walked back into his house to watch TV._

_The man, adressed to as Obashi, walked in, pulling off his shoes and making his way to the kitchen. He abscentmindedly wondered why the guys back at the station made him bring her and the kid the bad news. He let out a long sigh. A moment later he was at the door, which led to the former mentioned kitchen._

_"Hey, Naomi."_

_"Oh, hello Kasuo. What brings you here?" Obashi always wandered, how Naomi was still able to be so cheerful. He was one of the few people, who knew about Takeshi's...problem and sincerly didn't understand, how, despite everything the family was still intact._

_"I have very bad news. Perhaps it's better, if you take a seat." He suggested. There was a confused pause, before Naomi seated herself at one of the chairs, that were standing nearby._

_"It's about Takeshi, isn't it?" She asked._

_"Yes. I don't know how to tell you, but he is...your husband is dead, Naomi." Once again there was a shocked silence. Naomi's face paled and Obashi was ready to jump in, in case she fainted, but she caught herself._

_"How? How did it happen?" She croaked._

_"Apparently he got lost and ended up on the top of Fujiyama. He wasn't able to find his way back and froze to death. His body was discovered by accident." He didn't want his words to sound so harsh, but somehow he couldn't bring himself to try and soften the news a little by choosing other words. The situation was just way too horrible. "Do you want me to say it to the kid?" He asked._

_"No...No, I am going to tell him myself. Please go now." Obashi could see some tears falling down her face. The once so bright, green eyes seemed dull now and their color was more striking then ever on her white face._

_"Ok. You know, you can count on me. If you need anything, just call." With that he turned around and started walking in the direction of the exit. As he was pulling his shoes back on he heard light foot steps behind him._

_"Obashi-san, you are leaving already?" He turned around and looked at the child in front of him. He was looking more and more like Takeshi with every passing day. If only he would stop wearing that bandana..._

_"Yeah. Kid, you better go to your mother. She needs you now." Kasuo Obashi said, leaving Ryoga entirely confused, before walking out of the house and closing the door behind him._

The fight had been more intense then any other fight, that Ryoga had until now. It had taken the two opponents out of the village, over the fields and into the forest, that the lost boy had come from. At least Ryoga assumed it was the same forest, since he hadn't seen any other trees in the area.

By now both combatants were severly injured. Ryoga had taken just one hit with the clawed hand of the demon, but it had been more then enough. The wound, that stretched from his throat down his torso, to the middle of his stomach was deep and bleeding hard. For the bandana clad boy's sake his opponent looked far worse. One of his arms was twisted in an angle, that was clearly not meant this way by the nature, while the whole demon had slashing wounds all over the body, from the bandanas Ryoga had hit him with. The oni's face was barely recognizable, with his nose smashed in, and one of the burning red eyes swollen over, so that it was barely visible. By now the demon had stopped laughing.

What disturbed Ryoga, was the fact, that while his wound was still bleeding and hurting like hell, he could see the demon's injuries already begin to close up. The lost boy had trouble breathing and could feel his powers leave his body rapidly, the only thing keeping him going, the hate at the abomination in front of him.

Yes, Ryoga hated him. His mother had told him everything about his father and how he aquired the curse, that was plaguing the lost boy since his childhood. She had told him about the man, who was responsible for this. And the thing, that he faced now was no different from him.

Again he felt the anger in him rising. If only he was as talented as Ranma, then he would have been able to make his Shishi Hokoudan draw power from his anger. Ryoga was sure, the attack would have wiped out his enemy in less then a second.

As for now, the outcome of the fight was still unpredictable.

With a crunching sound the arm of the demon twisted back into shape. Scratch unpredictable, Ryoga was going to loose. If he didn't come up with something, that is. And he had to do it quick.

With a low roar the demon charged. Ryoga jumped high into the air and swung his umbrella, connecting it with the demon's head. The oni stumbled a little and tried to shake the hit off. However Ryoga had other plans. While his foe was still groggy, Ryoga charged him, jumping up high again, this time hitting the oni straight in the face with the tip of his trusty umbrella. That bought him even more time. Ripping about five bandanas off his head, the lost boy started to spin them, charging his ki into them, while circling his opponent, so as to try to and get behind his back. It obviously worked pretty well, since the demon didn't seem to notice.

Ryoga aimed and unleashed his attack. The bandanas zoomed through the air, aiming for the demon's neck. Suddenly the demon let himself fall, effectively avoiding most of the spinning projectiles. One of them still caught him at the side of the face, as he wasn't quick enough. The oni roared in pain and jumped back to his feet. That would have been a very funny sight, since he did it with all four of his legs at once, resulting in him almost loosing his ballance. Unfortunately, he managed not to fall and turned around to face Ryoga once again, which made the whole situation a little less funny. He charged again and again Ryoga was able to jump out of the way, leaving the monster to make chop sticks out of a tree that was unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not that it had a choice.

"Darn you, mortal! Stay still and die!" Ryoga sweatdropped. Somehow the phrase seemed famillar...

Still airborne he concentrated his ki between his palms.  
"Shishi Hokoudan!" The beam of energy hit and sent the monster fly through a stone and a couple of trees. Landing the lost boy sprinted to the landing spot. The demon was trying to stand up, however staggering badly in the process. Seeing his chance, Ryoga pulled off his belt. It had been a while, since he used it, but desperate times called for desperate measures, right? He had to finish this quick. The pain in his side was killing him and he already began to see strange black dots from the bloodloss, which were becomming larger and larger, threatening to obscure his vision.

By now the demon managed to stand up, but was still shaking from side to side, as if he was drunk. The lost boy jumped again, since the monster had obvious trouble to lift his arms above his head, to defend himself. In the air Ryoga slashed furiously, again aming at his opponent's neck. Simultanously he was caught off guard, as he got an elbow to his chest, sending new waves of pain through his body since the hit caucht him in the still bleeding wound.

The black dots became alarmingly large, as the lost boy hit the ground, landing on his back. With difficulty he lifted his head only to see his opponent slowly falling to the side, his elbow still raised. As the heavy body hit the ground the head rolled off into an entirely another direction.

The now dead body started to emmit smoke and slowly disappear, as if someone was pouring acid at it, leaving only the inhumanly large bones at the ground.

The lost boy croaked with laughter, only to start caughing violently a second later. Lying there, the adrenalin slowly leaving his veins, Ryoga felt how exhausted he actually was. The dots in his eyes were becomming larger and larger and he contemplanted, if perhaps lying down would be a good idea. Not for a sleep or something, just for a couple of minutes...

Shaking his head he staggered to his feet.

No. Lying down, would be death for him. The wound in his side was still bleeding and if he didn't get help soon, this would be the end of Ryoga Hibiki.

Trying hard to keep his eyes open, the bandana clad boy looked around in search of his belongings. Leaning heavily on his umbrella, like on a walking stick he started walking, following the path of rooted out and broken trees. He remembered that he dropped it somewhere near that misterious well, since there he got hit by the demon and one of the leashes was torn in the process, making it completely impossible to fight and carry it at the same time. Slowly, so very slowly he neared himself his destination. He could already see the clearing, or rather the light, that came from there.

Wait. Was he hallucinating or were there really some people there. No they definitely were there and the were currently...

"Hey!... Leave my belongings... alone!" He tried to scream, but his voice was barely above a whisper. By now he wasn't able to see anything clear, as if he was looking through thick glasses in a foggy weather. He recognised something red somehow gain in height. Wait, it was someone in a red dress. Yes, it had to be.

"Lady,... this backpack...belongs...to...me..." Ryoga said, before tripping and falling over. The black dots decided, that this was a good moment for them to gain in size and quickly obscured Ryoga's vision comepletely.

**Author's notes (again): **Hmmmm. I don't know about this chapter. Somehow it didn't come out as impressive as I wanted it to be, even though it's longer then expected '.Well, it's up to you guys to decide, if it's good or bad. But as I already told, if you don't like it, please write why. Anyway, I wish a happy new year to everyone.


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's notes: **Hmmmm, where should I begin.  
Recently I noticed, that people want to see Ryoga as a reincarnation of Kouga. In my oppinion this is not possible for multiple reasons. First off, I don't see any mental resemblance between the two of them, aside from their temper, which all of Rumiko Takahashi-sama's more or less important characters possess, with the exception of perhaps Miroku and Sessomaru. The physical resemblance is a little noticeable, but it doesn't fit together properly: while Kouga is fast and relies mostly on this, Ryoga, while also pretty fast himself, is not nearly at Kouga's level. He rather settles with different types of brawler attacks, which put his inhuman strength to use. Then we also see the problem with one soul residing in two different bodies at the time. We have all witnessed what happens then on the example of Kykyo and Kagome.  
Then there is the matter of reincarnation itself. How is Kouga supposed to be reincarnated? With Kykyo it was an entirely different situation. While alive she had lived only to help others. Meaning: she had been reincarnated as Kagome because of her good deeds. On the other hand, there's Kouga. He is a leader of a wolf-demon tribe. I don't suppose I have to remind you, what exactly wolf-demons like to eat. We have seen Kouga's tribe destroying multiple vilages and Kouga himself didn't show any sign of remose for his deeds as far as I can remember. Of course I don't doubt that Kouga has his positive sides as well, in fact I can list quite a lot of them. However, nothing that he can possibly do, will be enough to settle the score he had done.Thus, in my opinion Kouga will never be able to reincarnate in a human body, since this is not the way reincarnation in Buddhism or Shintoism works. Following those rules, Kouga would be reincarnated as some sort of lowly creature, a worm for example. Sadly but this is how it works. Of course this is only my humble meaning, which can be twisted in some other direction with time and a bit of effort. You just have to give reasons, as to why. And of course you have to give me a good reason for Ryoga being a demon or anything of the sorts. You have seen the Ranma universe. Ryoga's strength is nothing out of the ordinary there. So don't just write, that he should be a demon, because he is so strong. If we followed this principe, we would have to make every member of the Nerimian wrecking crew a reincarnation of some sort of supernatural being with insane powers. As for Ryoga's looks, dont forget, that being lost half of the time in the wilderness tends to have it's effects on the body as well, not only the mind.  
Second point of this entirely too long note is the messy flashback I did in the previous chapter. I have to apologise for it, since it indeed was not properly indicated. I did put signs to show the beginning and the end of it, but unfortunately, since I write with simple editor (I don't get along with open office and the documents of Word are too big for my poor old 56k modem to upload) these signs got swallowed in the uploading process. I promise to correct that, if I haven't done so yet. However the intention and the placement of the flashback were made so confusing intentionally. While it was supposed to explain the origin of Ryoga's curse, the main reason for it was to explain the lost boy's ahem...feelings towards the demon. As for Ryoga's mother having the curse as well, I don't remember it ever being told directly in the manga OR the anime. The only thing we know for sure, is the fact that she is out of the house all the time. The reasons for that will be explained later. The third reason for the flashback was that, as you probably noticed, I suck at fighting scenes and thus I didn't want to come to it directly, so I wouldn't have to write too much of it. My apologises on this point as well. I might rewrite the second chapter sometime, but for now I want to keep writing on, so as not to loose interest in writing this fic as it already often happened to me (for example I sometime ago started writing a Ranma/Hellsing fic, but stopped a while later, because I started on another one and have lost the idea of what to write in the first fic.  
Then about Inuyasha and the crew noticing about the demon in the neighbouring village. As I have already written in the first chapter, the demon had cut off all possibilities for the villagers to call help and I suppose the village had been far enough for Inuyasha not to notice the smell or the aura of the oni, since it wasn't very strong. I hope it is believable enough.  
Well, I assume these notes should have sufficed for now. On with the story. 

**Chapter 3**

_Back into future_

Ryoga creaked one eye open and stared at his surroundings. He was in a bed. He was also in a room, with white walls, a big window and an empty chair beside his bed. The cold electrical light from above made it painfully clear, where exactly he was. A hospital. The lost boy groaned. His throat felt so incredibly dry and his whole body was aching, especially his injured torso and the bit of his throat that got hit as well. At least he knew for sure that this whole mess wasn't a dream. He turned his head slightly and noticed a small device with a button on it lying by his side.  
He took it and gave the button a light push. A minute later a nurse hurried into the room. She was fairly old, about fifty perhaps, but had a kind face. At least she wasn't one of those young girls, that didn't know what to do half of the time.

"So, you're finally awake, huh? Ryoga, is that right?" She looked at the clipboard, that hung at the end of the bed.

"Yeah, that's right. Could I have something to drink please? My throat feels like sandpaper right now..." Ryoga croaked, not even trying to sit up. The way he felt at the moment was bad enough.

"Of course, hon, but first I have to check your blood pressure, if you don't mind." She walked to a small cupboard in the far corner of the room and took the small device out of it.

"Sure." The lost boy moved his arm so the nurse could put the sling around it and start pumping. "How did I end up here?" He asked, as the woman was waiting a little for the device to do it's work and display the results.

"Oh, I don't know exactly. You see, it wasn't my shift when you were brought in. But from what I was told, you somehow managed to get to the Higurashi shrine with your injury and the family residing there called the ambulance. Oh, and they left a number for you to call. They told that you really had to phone them. Did they have something to do with the way you got hurt?" She asked, slight suspicion in her voice. Ryoga looked at her confused.

"No. Not that I knew of. In fact I hear of them for the first time. What did you call them again, Hagirashi?"

"Higurashi." The nurse corrected, as she started writing something on the clipboard. "So, how did you get injured?" She asked, not looking up from her work. Ryoga had to think a little of a reply. Surely they would think he had some sort of mind sickness, if he told them, he fought a demon.

"Uh, you know, I got lost and then...umm...I got into a fight with a bear. Yeah that's what happened. Hehe..." He laughed nervously, while looking at the nurse to see if she bought it. She looked at him from the corner of her eye.

"In the middle of Tokyo?"

"Well, umm...Kinda in a forest. I don't know how I ended up in Tokyo actually." This was the truth, since he really didn't remember, getting back into town.

"Hmmm. I'll buy it for now. Spares me a lot of work. But if you're in trouble, it's better if you tell the truth. You know, we can call the police and all, they would probably make sure, nothing happened to you." She told, while continuing to scribble down at the clipboard.

"No, no. It's really nothing of the sorts. Honestly." Ryoga laughed nervously again. Unless the demon had some vengeful relatives, he wasn't in trouble, was he?

"Ok then. I'll go fetch you something to drink. Oh, we weren't able to reach any of your relatives, so I hope you are able to pay for your stay here yourself." She told him before leaving the room.

After the nurse returned with some water and left again, the lost boy started to take a closer look around the room in search of his belongings. Sure enough, his pack was sitting right beside the empty chair. Using his left hand, which was not at his injured side, he lifted it up and took out the cell phone. Looking at the displayed date he realised, that he must have been out for at least two days. Almost three, as he looked at the clock. He considered, whom he should call. Those Higurashi people could wait. He didn't recieve their number yet anyway. Perhaps Akane? Nah. Ryoga didn't want her to worry about him and see him in such a state. Ukyo? Nope. She was way too violent, every time he said something bad about Ranma. Ranma himself was of course out of question, although the lost boy would have loved to rub in that he was able to beat a demon. His mother...No. She was way too worried about him every time something happened. After his father died, she always lived in the fear of her son leaving her as well. Knowing that he got injured so badly would probably cause her a lot of stress. Hmm. Only one option left. Nekohanten. Or more precisely either Cologne or Mousse. Remembering that Mousse was nice enough to apologise the last time he tried to beat Ryoga up, the bandana clad youth made his decision. Pulling out a little book with all the important numbers he knew, he started dialling.

Rriiiing...Rriiiing.  
Hello?> Judging by the voice it was Shampoo. Nope, not the person Ryoga wished to speak at the moment.

"Um, hi, Shompoo. It's Ryoga. Could you call Mousse please?" He asked politely.

Lost boy? What you want from stupid Mousse?> So much for politeness.

"Oh, nothing really, just to ask him a favour."

Okay. I call him. MOUUUUUSEEEE!> Ryoga had to hold the small cell phone away from his ear, in order to keep his hearing. There was a pause then a faint voce could be heard.

Shampoo, my love, finally you have noticed what I feel for you and decided to forget about this stupid jerk Ran...BOOM> Muffled sounds came from the other end. Apparently there wasn't much one could say with a bonbori in the face. After a short pause and the sounds of Shampoo's steps growing fainter, indicating that she went away, Mousse picked up the hearer.

Yes?>

"Hi Mousse. It's Ryoga." The lost boy contemplated, how he should word his situation.

Oh, hi. What is it? You've been gone for only half a week.> Mousse sounded a little bit confused.

"Listen up. I just want to ask you for a little favour, is that ok with you?" There was a pause, as Mousse obviously thought about it.

I think I'm fine with it. So, what's up?>

"Oh, it's a long story. Now I just want you to go to my house, I'll give you the address later, and fetch something from there. My insurance card should be there somewhere. I belive I left it at the dining table, the last time when I was there." Ryoga explained.

And how am I supposed to get in there? Break in, or what?>

"There's a spare key, hidden in a small box under the fifth stone to the left side of the main entrance. I trust you not to steal anything from my house, ok?" There was a laugh at the other end of the line.

Not to worry, Hibiki. I don't think there's something I could use in your house and stealing money or valuables is under my pride. So what's the adress and where am I supposed to bring that card of yours?>

"Take a pencil or something and write it down. You ready?"

Yeah, just a second.>

After Mousse had found something to write, Ryoga told him the address of his house and the name of the hospital, he was in. After that Mousse said, that he would come by in about two hours and bring the card with him. That settled, Ryoga relaxed and lied down. His eyelids slowly dropped and he fell asleep again.

Three hours later he was rudely awakened. The sounds of turmoil in the corridor were way too loud for them to be caused by an emergency operation or anything of the sorts. And of course there was the matter of the two voices, that came from the corridor and seemed to near themselves proportionally to the noise.

"Why did you have to tag along, you dried up old monkey!" CLONG

"Who are you calling a dried up old monkey! Show some respect, boy!" This voice seemed to be accompanied by rhythmical clicking of a walking stick.

"Yeah, okay. You don't have to hit me every time, you know? Now, I can understand you showing interest for the wellbeing of one of your former students, although I remember you trying to cook him once, but what did all of THEM want here!" Yeah. That was way too much noise to be caused just by two people. Figures, that it had to be more. Somehow Ryoga knew, that his stay in the hospital was going to be an adventurous one.

The sounds of beating, screaming and chaos in general came closer and closer to the closed door of Ryoga's room. A feeling of DOOM was creeping up on the lost boy.

He closed his eyes and let a short prayer escape his lips. He didn't believe in much, but right now he was ready to sell his soul to anyone, in exchange for the group of people, who had currently stopped before his room, to just start walking again. Somewhere far away from his room would have been great. But, as the gods seemed to take enormous joy from seeing the lost boy suffer, the door flew open and a group of almost ten people filled in into the room, that wasn't made to fit in so many people. Well, it probably wouldn't have been so bad, if they would have stopped fighting. As it was, the room immediately started to take damage. Ryoga, panicking, started to push the little button that was supposed to call the nurse. Unfortunately in his panicked state he had crushed the device itself, so his attempts to call help were left unnoticed by the hospital staff. About five minutes later the chaos started to subside and the people turned their attention at the pale face of the occupant of the room. Ryoga didn't know why, but somehow this didn't make him feel better at all.

"Hoi, pork-butt. How's it been going?" Ranma asked in a friendly tone. He then came closer to the bed and asked Ryoga in a little bit lower voice, not low enough for the others to overhear it, however. "Where's the guy, who did this to you? I wanna congratulate and thank him, seeing as he got you off my throat for a while." As soon as he finished speaking he was elbowed in the ribs by Akane. Ryoga couldn't help, but feel satisfaction.

"Stupid, violent gorilla-girl no hit Airen!"

"Who are you calling a gorilla!"

"Yeah, that's right, she doesn't have enough hair to be a gorilla. She's just a stubborn macho-chi..ACK." Again Ranma was nailed in the ribs, this time by Mr.Saotome and Mr.Tendo.

"That is no way of talking to your fiance!"

"Oh, such a disgrace! And that is supposed to be my son!"

Ryoga felt a major headache coming on. He looked at everyone in the room. Mousse was currently trying to make his way to the bed, so as to give the insurance card to Ryoga. The lost boy felt reliefed, that at least this problem was taken care of. Genma and Soun were wailing about the schools never being united, Ranma was being pounded by Akane, while Ukyo and Shampoo were obviously having a glaring contest. Cologne was already sitting in the chair beside the bed and smoking her pipe, while looking over the battlefield. Finally Mousse managed to get through the fighting, arguing and wailing people. It was quite an effort for him, judging by the way he was panting.

"Hibiki...Here you go." He managed between the intakes of oxygen and handed Ryoga the little plastic card.

Ryoga accepted it and waited patiently until the half blind boy in front of him regained his speaking abilities.

"What are all of them doing here?" He asked as soon as Mousse seemed to be able to speak whole sentences at once again.

"Why, you didn't tell me I was supposed to hold it a secret." Mousse said in a slightly guilty voice and laughed nervously.

"Yes, but why did you have to go and tell all of them! It's not like they would say, 'Hey, Mousse, where are you going? Oh, to visit Ryoga in a hospital? Then I'm gonna tag along'!" The lost boy glared at the long haired youth, who was sweating a little.

"Well, you know...On my way to your house I saw Ranma and told him, that I was going to beat him up after I have brought you that card. Ranma said, that he wanted to know, who did this to you and decided to come with me. And it kind of spread around I guess." Mousse laughed nervously again, scratching the back of his head. Ryoga groaned and put his face in his hands.

"But why did they have to come? It's not like I'm that popular. I can understand Akane... but they?" Ryoga pointed towards the wailing duo of fathers and the arguing chef and amazon. He didn't dare mention Cologne, since he heard her beating Mousse for asking. It could have been because he called her a dried up old monkey, but Ryoga thought, that the old amazon had gotten used to everyone calling her that way. "I'm just glad that at least Kuno and his sister haven't heard of this yet..." Ryoga sighed. He noticed from the corner of his eye that Mousse started sweating a little bit more.

"Mouuuuusse..." Ryoga growled, but was cut off by an insane laugh from the corridor.

"Ohohohohohohoho! Ranma, darling! Where are you!" No. Ryoga had to get out of this room. Quick. He hung on his life after all.

"Vile sorcerer! Show yourself, so I, the mighty and unbeatable Blue Thunder of Furikan High, otherwise known as Kuno Tatewaki, age nineteen, can smite thee!" Definitely. He HAD to get out of here.

"Mousse, get a wheel chair and get me out of here, before we are all paralyzed!" He pleaded. Mousse, feeling, that somehow this was all his fault, quickly pulled a wheel chair out of his robes and helped the lost boy to get into it. Seeing as noone was paying attention they were able to escape the madness, before the arrival of the Kuno siblings.

Cologne, not being able to smoke in peace, decided to accompany them and hoppet over the heads of the fighting martial artists to the exit.

As the sounds of beating behind them grew fainter Ryoga was able to relax. Mousse, who was pushing the wheel chair, walked in the direction of the hospital grounds, which were mostly designed as a park. Cologne hopped on her stick beside them, her pipe still in her hand. Soon they were outside. The noises of fighting disappeared comepletely behind the thick walls of the building. Ryoga shivered a little. Currently he was only in a thin pijama, which didn't give much protection against the gusts of cool evening wind that picked up occasionally. The trio found their way to a large tree with low hanging branches, which hid them from the wind a little and the two not already sitting individuals took place at the bench that was placed a few steps away from the trunk. There was a small pause before Cologne spoke up.

"So, boy. I don't belive for a second that you are here due to a bear attack. Tell us, what happened." She lighted her pipe once again and blew the smoke out in nicely formed rings.

"And why that?" The bandana clad boy asked. It wasn't like he didn't intend to tell them the truth anyway, but he didn't like following commands from anyone.

"For goddes sake. You have fought foes far more dangerous then a bear and came out unscratched. Take this Taro person for example. Or the time you had to fight against that eight-headed lizard by the spring of life. And the worst injuries you ever had were a couple of bruises and sore ribs." Cologne inhaled from her pipe again and turned her head towards the lost boy. "And now, all of a sudden you want us to believe that you were attacked by a bear and he almost tore your head off." The old amazon poked Ryoga in his side with her stick.

"Ouch! Stop that! Alright, I'm going to tell you." He leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and heaved a long sigh.

"We're all ears, my boy." Cologne said, making herself more comfortable at the bench. Mousse kept silent, just readjusted the glasses on his nose.

"Well, I guess it won't hurt to tell you. At least you wouldn't think I'm insane. It all started a few days ago, when I was lost somewhere in Tokyo. I came across that weird place with the small hut, that I intended to spend the night in..." The lost boy explained the story as well as he could. Which wasn't that well, considering that he didn't understand the most of it himself.

"...And then I woke up in this hospital. I called Mousse right after that." He finished. Mousse sat silent as ever, his gaze somwhere else. Cologne rubbed her chin. Another pause followed, as everyone seemed to have something on their minds. And again it was the matriarch of amazons, who broke the silence.

"Say again, what did this demon look like?" She inquired, still deep in thought.

"He was big, about one and a half my height. Built like some sort of a centaur, only with white fur all over him and that the lower part wasn't of a horse, but rather an elephant. You know, not as big, but with thick legs and such. And he had a face of an old man with glowing red eyes." Ryoga counted on his fingers, if he had named everything that was spacial about the demon.

"Hmmm. I do have a suspicion about that oni, as you call him. If I am right with it, then it is really bad that you killed him. About where he came from at our times, however I do not have a clue." She turned her head towards the two martial artists, who by now had both turned in her direction and were listening carefully. "I think, I will begin at the very start. Hmm. Yes." The old amazon put on her best, 'I'm a wise old woman, listen to my interesting sories' face.

"Once there was a mighty demon lord, whose cruelity, brutality and power knew no limits. Noone was able to defeat him and the only thing that saved the other demons along with us, humans, was the fact, that the demon was asleep most of the time. He was enormous in size and even while asleep, seemingly invulerable. The other demon lords had great fear of him. Not even the most powerful of them were able to harm him, without waking him up, and thus sealing their own fates. It was back then, and the only known time, when the four great youkais worked together. They were able to create a spell, that supposedly would be able to destroy the threat. But they understimated their enemy. Instead of destroying the demon lord, the spell was only able to separate him into hundreds of parts. Of course every single part was very weak. In fact, the parts were so weak, that even a simple human, without any special training whatsoever, was able to defeat them. However, there was one thing that the youkai lords had noticed when it was already too late." Cologne made a pause, as if to make it more dramatic. "The respective parts of the former demon were bound by an invisible bond. After all they had been one being in the past. Due to this bond the power of the demons was not able to perish, if one of the parts was destroyed. Instead it distibuted umong the still existing parts. To put it simply, with each killed part the power of the ones still alive grew. Thus the great demon lord was bound to return at some point. The reason it didn't happen is simple. Someone was able to gather all of the parts and destroy them at the same time, while all of them were still weak. At least, that is what I thought. Until you told me your story, that is." Cologne inhaled deeply again. "The demon you described, seems to be one of these parts. At least the description fits. Althoug I don't understand how he was able to survive until our days, and if indeed he has, then why you were able to beat him. As I told before, we know that the most parts were destroyed a long time ago. Which means, that if there are some parts left, they should be extremely powerful. Of course I can be mistaken, and the demon you met only looked this way, but I highly doubt it. Then there is the matter with the strange well you were talking about. Ahhh, there are too many white spots in your story to tell something for sure. You said that the people, who brought you here asked you to give them a call, right?"

"Yes." Ryoga answered, perplexed.

"Then, perhaps, you should contact them. They might know something important." Cologne advised. They sat there in silence fo several minutes, before it got comepletely dark and Mousse suggested going back into the building of the hospital. When they arrived at the information desk, they noticed that the hospital seemed to be strangely empty. In fact Ryoga was sure he had seen barricades through the windows that led into cabinets of the staff. His wheel chair came to a halt.

"Excuse me!" Ryoga shouted, looking for someone to give his ensurance card to, while he was still in its possession. The door behind them creaked open to reveal an extremely nervous nurse, armed with a broom. The label on the door she came out stated 'closet'. Frankly looking around, she asked.

"Is he away already?" The trio blinked in surprise. Was the hospital under an atack by some psychopath and they didn't notice it? Their question was answered as a small dark ball bounced through the corridor, off the wall and onto the chest of the nurse.

"SWEETUMS!" The old pervert was full of himself, as suddenly something very hard connected with his skull, rending him unconscious.

"Hurry, he's down!" The nurse screamed. Suddenly the doors started opening only to reveal a mob of obviously extremely angry women and pretty scared men. Ryoga wasn't sure what exactly they were scared of, the old lercher or the looks on the faces of the females.

While the ritual of ponding Happosai commenced and Cologne was being thanked for 'saving the world of such an evil creature', Ryoga was able to find a doctor, who gladly took his insurance card and took care of everything, that had to be done about Ryoga's stay in the hospital. The lost boy was also informed, that he was supposed to stay there for at least a week, until the stitches, that had to be placed on his wound were removed. After that Mousse wheeled Ryoga back to his room. Luckily everyone seemed to have already left. Unluckily the room was trashed. After calling a nurse and saying this was Happosai's fault he recieved a new one.  
That taken care of Mousse and Cologne said their good-byes and left, leaving the by now exhausted lost boy to recover.

**And once again...: **Sorry, took me a while to update, since I have school again.(and it sucks badly). Please, if you are a potential reviewer, read the notes at the beginning of the chapter, if you haven't done so already. Thank you.


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